Safety is a very important design aspect of a hand grenade (or an explosive) fuze in military and commercial applications. Conventional fuze designs account for a time delay period from initiation, for the detonation to occur, in order to ensure that the grenade is cast outside the explosion hazard area.
To this end, numerous conventional hand grenade fuzes have been proposed, some of which are described in the following publications: U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,823,669; 3,926,122; 4,063,514; 4,167,905; 4,730,559; 5,196,649; 6,082,267; 6,965,542; 7,197,983; and 7,712,419, and Statutory Invention Registration H251, issued Apr. 7, 1987 to Field.
These and other fuze designs propose the use of delay elements that are either mechanically, chemically, electrically, or electro-magnetically operated. However, these conventional designs could present various inherent problems, particularly when used in the field, under adverse and stressful conditions.
More specifically, the grenade delay mixtures constitute major concerns in the armed forces. These concerns arise from the dwell time requirement between the activation of the grenade to the detonation. This time cycle is critical to the function of the grenade as well as to the safety of the soldier.
The issue of delay composition mixtures is a continuous issue in the fabrication of grenades, such as the M67. Numerous conventional hand grenade fuze designs include delay mixtures that use an energetic pyrotechnic mixture, which require complex manufacturing and production capabilities. Additionally, due to the characteristics of the delay mixture, end items can sometimes exhibit inconsistent burn times.
What is therefore needed is a fuze design that addresses the foregoing and other concerns, and that provides a solution thereto. Particularly, the fuze design should address the robustness of the delay mixture via a non-energetic mixture approach. Prior to the advent of the present invention, the need for such a fuze design has heretofore remained unsatisfied.